


Ashes

by xensilverquill



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: X & Y | Pokemon X & Y Versions
Genre: Adventure, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Redemption
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-15
Updated: 2014-05-15
Packaged: 2018-01-19 12:01:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1468822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xensilverquill/pseuds/xensilverquill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"His rebirth was one of darkness and flames." </p>
<p>[Everyone deserves a second chance, even a certain Team Flare leader. The way forward is sometimes the way back, and redemption can come in the strangest and most surprising of forms.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**_"So many are still waiting for their new beginning, their birth by sleep. Even me... and even you."_ **

-Ansem the Wise ( _Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep_ )

* * *

 

His rebirth was one of darkness and flames.

Fire licked at his skin, rough as a pyroar's tongue. His flesh melted like so much mist under sunlight as it hissed and evaporated off his bones. Even when he was burned down to the marrow, the heat continued beating at him mercilessly. His very soul was consumed by the inferno. At last the conflagration dimmed to embers, then to shadows.

Blind and dumb, he was left only with a phantasmal sense of touch. He felt... empty. A void stretched within and without him, a nothingness that drove him to madness. Silent screams tore from his throat. Voiceless, he howled his rage and despair to no one. He was stuck in purgatory with no release, closer to hell than heaven but nonetheless a torturous limbo.

_Someone... Anyone, please..._

Mewling pleas echoed from his blasted psyche. In vain he was reaching out as he searched the blankness for some shelter to which he could cling. Crying like a newborn separated from its mother, he was useless even to himself in this state.

_Is someone there? Can anyone hear me?_

No one answered. Tears fell from his sightless, nonexistent eyes. If he had a body left, he would have curled in on himself. Cold air swept on an arctic gust in the wake of the fire that had consumed him. As if ice were freezing around his spirit to hold him in place, the chilling wind turned him into living stone. He could not move so much as a twitch. Words could scarcely form on his frost-kissed lips.

_I'm lost... I'm scared..._

Imaginary monsters growled from where they crouched in the murk around him. He could nearly feel the fetid heat of their breath on his neck. The beasts crept in from all sides. Their teeth snapped, their claws clicked on the ground. What the fire had not destroyed they had come to feast upon, scavengers meaning to eat the little of him that was left over. He quivered like a leaf in a gale and screamed for his life.

_Someone help me, please!_

He did not want to be here. He did not want to be alone. He did not want to die.

_HELP ME!_

**Peace, lost one.**

The voice rang out through the darkness. Tremors rattled his clouded senses as the gloom was dispelled by a burst of scarlet light. A keening echo like an eagle's cry echoed all around him, a primal call jarring and alien to his ears. The shadows fled in the wake of the red glow. His sight returned with a vengeance, and he had to squint against the light spearing in his eyes. He thought he saw a large, vaguely avian shape silhouetted against the brightness, but with his blurry vision he could not be very sure.

Warmth suddenly enveloped him like a blanket. He did not realize how cold he was or how badly he was shivering until he was pulled against something large and blessedly solid. There was material like soft leather under his touch, a bitter yet comforting herbal scent rising from it.

Instinctively curling up closer, he welcomed this new presence with a relish. It did not enter to his mind to wonder at this thing that had come to his rescue. After all, it had saved him from the cold nothingness that had almost eaten him up. So awash was he with relief that it did not occur to him to question or be afraid. A heaviness tugged at his very being, pulling him into a state of hazy peace he had not felt since...

**Rest. I will guard you whilst you sleep. The shadows shall not touch you so long as I keep them at bay.**

The voice, while gentle and low, brooked no argument. He was hardly in a position to resist as it was. Its rumbling vibrations soothed him inexplicably, and he could do no other but obey.

**What a pitiable little spirit. So strong and fierce, and yet so twisted and confused. Perhaps the designs of fate will be kind to you in the end. Ah! but you have such a long and difficult path ahead.**

**The journey will, ultimately, be yours alone to undertake. Do not fret. I shall walk alongside you and lend my strength when and where I can. It is a rare gift that you have been given, lost one. For your sake, I hope that you will make the best of it.**

Sleep crept upon him at last. The darkness that washed over him was sweet and healing, so different from that yawning void he had found himself in before.

Yet his slumber was not without its strange, ominous dreams, either.

* * *

 

_/A laughing, side-burned man with eyes the color of a summer thunder cloud.../_

_He could remember nothing from before the fire. Only pain and frustration and defeat... and sad, blue-grey eyes. Those eyes pierced him to his core, disappointed and grieving._

_/A city full of brights lights, a tower at the center its crown jewel.../_

_When he tried to touch the man's shoulder, he was merely shrugged off._

_/Their hands bound together... Friendship... Love.../_

_"My decision is final, Professor. The plans are set in motion; they cannot be stopped now. My offer still stands. There is a place for you in this new world if you will only accept it."_

_/A fair-headed girl dressed in red, eyes sparking with challenge and beautiful conviction.../_

_"What kind of world can you possibly build this way? Why must everything and everyone else die to satisfy your manic ambitions? No... A utopia built on a foundation of death and destruction is no better than a dictatorship built on peace. I can't live in a world like that... and I can't love a man who would strive to create one."_

_/Flames, death, destruction... Everything going up in an earth shattering explosion.../_

_"... I see now that we have nothing more to offer each other. Farewell then, Professor."_

_/Silence... Emptiness.../_

_He knew he was the reason for the hurt in the that gaze, but he did not know why. "Oh, mon cher," the man's tear-choked voice echoed, "where did we go wrong?"_


	2. Chapter 1

**_"All teens have the desire to somehow run away."_ **

-Joan Chen

* * *

Vallée Étroite Way stretched far to the southeast, over the bridge that spanned the river and to the old mines of Terminus Cave beyond. It was a warm, windy day with the sun beaming in a cloudless sky. The breeze whistled through the grass and scrub and kicked up dust as it wound its way on the bare slopes of the mine. Sunlight glinted off the metallic exoskeletons of the durant hordes as they swarmed in and out of their mounds. Not far off a pair of lairon were having at each other over a choice bit of iron with a  _clang! clang!_  of armored heads. All in all, it was a typical summer day for the area as Serena set out on the road.

Her bicycle left a long wobbly line on the packed dirt as she went. With her mouse brown hair cropped back into a pixie cut, the air whooshed right past her ears as the girl leaned into the next narrow turn. Gloved hands gripped the handlebars tightly as she pedaled double time to build up speed. Serena's eyes shone with a daredevil's thrill as she just managed to avoid careening off the main road into the rushing river below. Her laughter echoed across the valley.

"Gain way!" she squealed as she swerved to avoid running over a napping graveler. It growled after her in irritation but otherwise could not be roused to moved from its resting place. The girl continued to almost bump into a number of trainers and wild pokémon alike, tossing breathy apologies over her shoulders.

"Whoa there! Sorry! Mind your head! Excuse me! Careful! Coming through!" She rode like a tornadus on a storm front, scattering and disrupting everything in her wake. In spite of her giggling and unshakeable smile, her frantic pace resembled that of one being chased. And, she was being chased by a most infamous predator indeed: reality.

Those nagging reminders and obligations pursued and nipped at her tirelessly. Everything that had happened at Geosenge stuck stubbornly with her, though it had been nearly a month since the incident. She could scarcely think of Team Flare or its enigmatic boss or the apocalypse they had almost succeeded in bringing about and not instantly become angry, sad, and just plain angsty.

Lately she could hardly stand to be around anyone save her own pokémon. The girl could not even talk with Shauna or Calem or any of her friends without feeling the intense, frightening urge to bite their heads off. Her fuse was dangerously short. For goodness sake, an electrode had a better temper than she did!

None of them deserved it, though; they were not the reason she felt so... furious? depressed? lost? So she had begun avoiding them like the plague for a few weeks now.

After what happened with Tierno, she could not muster up the nerve to face any of those close to her. Shame burned at her cheeks and ruddied her face when she thought of how she had made the aspiring choreographer cry. Her spiteful, thoughtless words had cut the boy's sensitive heart to ribbons. His tears, Shauna's shocked gasp, Trevor's face drawn up in a scowl of anger and indignation for his friend's sake - the memories were permanently imprinted on her brain and played ad infinitum in her dreams when she slept.

Serena had not spoken with any of them since, not even over the holo caster. Her personal caster buzzed in her satchel a few dozen times a day with incoming calls, each unheeded and unanswered. To her surprise and chagrin, everyone seemed to have left her at least one message concerned about her whereabouts and safety. Even Tierno - Arceus bless him - had tried several times to get into contact with her.

_"Baby girl, we're all so worried. I understand if you don't want to pick up right now... just know that we all care about you and are here if you need us."_

_"Hey, Serena. Calem here. I get that you're in a rough spot after what happened at Geosenge, but can't you give us some sign that you're all right?"_

_"Serena? It's Professor Sycamore. Mon dieu, why won't the girl pick up... The others say you won't return their calls, that they haven't seen you in two weeks. If you haven't fallen off the face of the earth, at least send me or one of your friends a message. I've been at that age before, so I won't call it selfish, but still... If you're feeling hurt, the rest of us are hurting at least half as much worrying over you. Tierno is absolutely beside himself right now. The poor boy blames himself for your disappearance..."_

_"I'm s-s-sorry, Serena! P-please come b-back! If... if you're still mad, you c-c-can scream at me all you l-l-l-like. J-just c-c-come back..."_

She always teared up when she replayed the last one. It took every ounce of willpower not to send an earnest reply, begging for their forgiveness. That, or just smash the caster and be done with it. The fact was, though, she did not trust herself around them. She was afraid she would lose it again. Sycamore was right that she was hurting them, but Serena knew that would only hurt them even more by sticking around.

Guilt was part of the problem, but it was not all that was tearing her up inside. Until she had worked out exactly what was wrong with her and fixed the problem, she was staying clear.

In the end she did leave a recording for her inbox. The message was not particularly long or informative, but it would have to do. Maybe it would finally stop them from calling.

" _You've reached Serena,_ " it said. " _I can't talk to anyone right now... but I'm okay. I have some things I have to take care of before I come back. I will come back. I promise._ "

With the screwy logic of a teenager, Serena fancied that if she were only fast enough she could leave it all far behind, never to bother her again. Of course, everything always caught up with her in the end. Even a flighty spirit like her own could not keep running forever.

* * *

At last she collapsed on the rough turf bordering the path, throwing the yellow bike on its side as she dismounted. She plopped down on her backside with an exasperated, exhausted sigh. Dust coated her faded jeans and, well, almost every part of her. Shedding her navy blue windbreaker she vigorously shook out the article clothing. Folding it up and placing it behind her head, she eased back to recline against her satchel. Sweat beaded on brow from her run, and she wiped it away with a flick of her hand.

Ugh, I'm gross. Wonder if I can get a decent shower at the center in Couriway... Serena's tuckered legs refused to carry her anywhere at the moment, though. She fingered the pokéballs at her belt. The gang might as well get out and stretch a bit. I'm certainly not going to be moving anytime soon.

"Alrighty, guys, come on out!" She threw one after the other into the air, watched each expand and spout that bright energy to materialize into the familiar forms of her team.

Caesar was the first to appear, shaking the ground with his monstrous weight as he dropped on his two feet. The pale feathery fluff covering his neck and lower jaw bristled as he yawned. Or rather, roared. There was no telling with the tyrantrum. Every sound from that razor teeth-lined mouth sounded equally grumpy.

Serena's venusaur and gardevoir were next, named Coatl and Guinevere, respectively.

'Ginny' made her entrance with all the cool grace her species so naturally commanded. The skirt-like appendages flared about her before settling and, refined lady that she was, not so much as a speck of dirt marred the pristine whiteness. Quick as a whip and light as a leaf, she twirled out of the way as Coatl landed in the spot she had just occupied.

The squat grass-type croaked rather like a toad as he landed, and it was surprising that he did not make a squishy splat! sound with his great bulk. However, he had a certain chubby charm with his goofy grin and chortling call that could always bring a smile to his trainer's face.

Making a less flashy appearance out of her pokéball was the strong and silent type of the crew, Brunhilde. The lucario had been a stoic she-warrior since she had first met Serena over half a year ago on Route 5. Brunhilde scanned her surroundings briefly before spying and moving for a promising-looking boulder on which to stand for her daily meditation.

Last of all was the one that had been with Serena the longest. With an exhalation of heat redolent of cinnamon incense, Minerva sat down quietly next to her trainer. The signature flame of the delphox burned as a torch on the end of the long branch. Curiously enough, the wood was never consumed by the fire no matter intensely it burned in and out of battle.

" _Kriii?_ " Serena glanced over at her starter. The maroon fur of Minerva's legs were bunched up as she crouched, staring into the ethereal flame on her wand. While she did not look at the human, the delphox ears flicked this way and that in Serena's general direction.

"No, Min, I'm fine." Of course, she was not speaking with the fire-type, not in the sense of an actual language, anyway. Nor did she understand the delphox's growls and whines as coherent words, per say. Still, there was a conversation of sorts going on between human and pokémon. Minerva's face had never been terribly expressive, but the girl had learned to read her partner's moods in her posture. In this instance, the fluffy tail waving slowly side to side and the large ears twitching incessantly indicated worry for Serena.

Her tail kept its slow wagging from side to side. " _Kriiiii..._ " came the unconvinced 'reply.'

Serena laughed in spite of herself. Nothing ever got past Minerva, or Guinevere for that matter. Psychic pokémon seldom missed anything, especially with the trainers with whom they worked on a daily basis. That included the violet-and-white sphere Serena toyed with absentmindedly in her lap.

"I keep meaning to do it," the girl mused aloud, raking a hand through her short hair. Her gaze pointedly avoided the master ball. "I really do. But every time I try, when I'm just about to throw it..." Sighing, she slid further on her satchel until she lay entirely on the grass. The pokéball remained clutched at her chest and disappeared into the grey wrinkles of her sweat soaked T-shirt.

"I remember  _it_. I remember it almost killing you before I captured it..." Again she turned to look at Minerva, but the delphox only continued peering at the fire at the mention of the near-death experience. If she thought anything of the Oblivion Wing attack that had incapacitated her and kept her unconscious for three days, she did not show it.

Shivering, Serena tried not to think too long or hard on the living myth she carried with her. Chills ran down her spine at the mere memory of facing the yveltal. While she battled against it bravely enough, the truth was she had been scared witless of it, still was. The sheer, horrifying power the beast exuded was enough to give her nightmares. If half the myths were true, Serena had a good reason to be leery and wary: yveltal was the physical manifestation of death itself.

Though it was irresponsible and neglectful of her as a trainer, she had been too afraid to let yveltal out of its pokéball afterwards. She regretted not passing the behemoth off to Professor Sycamore when he had made the offer. There had once been some foolhardy notion in her mind to care of it herself, but what did a teenage rookie know about handling a destructive and life-leeching creature like that? Absolutely nothing, that was what.

So, until she figured out what do with yveltal, it would be locked up tight in the confines of the master ball and would stay there indefinitely.

"I remember seeing it for the first time in the Team Flare base," she continued, "and then that makes me think about Team Flare and everything... just everything that they did or tried to do." Brows narrowing as she spoke, her hold on the pokéball tightened a bit. "So many people and pokémon got hurt because of those glorified fashionista punks. And for what? Because of their leader's so-called 'vision' for a better world. Huh, some world!"

By now her lips had drawn up in a snarl, and her eyes sparked with an on-coming rage. "It's not even like Lysandre ever stopped to think about what anybody else wanted or needed. All that garbage about 'beauty' and 'giving' and humans messing up the world- I mean, I get that and all, but that was all he ever talked about! For Arceus' sake, his head was so far up his own ass that he refused to see anything else.

"And what a hypocrite! One minute he's going on about how pokémon are wonderful and everything and how people exploit them, and at the same time he's using them to power up that doomsday weapon from hell. Oh, so it's wrong when others do it, but when Team Flare does the same thing it's something grand and wonderful?"

Ranting, a distant part of her knew that she was quickly and irrationally spiraling into a frenzy, the same kind of manic frenzy that had ended with Tierno in tears and her running away. At the same time she could care less. So what if she was getting angry for no good reason? Serena needed to get her feelings out one way or another, or she was liable to spontaneously combust on the spot. "That abomasnow, those rhydon and the others... they had the life literally getting sucked out of them.

"That poor yveltal had it the worst of all, y'know? If it hadn't woken up, I think they were going to let it die." Angry tears started pooling and falling down her cheeks. She tore her fierce gaze down to look at the master ball that contained the very 'Destruction Pokémon' of which she spoke. Launching up into a sitting position, Serena curled her body around the ball. It was as if, in spite of her fear of it, she sought to protect the legendary creature within from people like Lysandre and his lackeys who would seek to use and hurt it.

All the pent-up frustration and stress that she had spent the afternoon trying to ride off came rushing back with a vengeance. The teenager shot to her feet so fast that Minerva actually glanced up in mild alarm. "Kri?" Serena was too far gone, and she did not register any of her pokémon, did not see how they all had turned to their trainer as her temper escalated.

"I almost wish that Lysandre didn't go up in the explosion," she growled. "If that hadn't destroyed him already, I- I-" Trembling and seething, Serena's pupils contracted to pin pricks. " _I would have killed him myself!_ " An inhuman yell ripped from her throat. Blindly she threw the nearest object at hand, trying to throw the maelstrom of feelings and urges boiling in her chest with it.

A split second too late she realized her mistake.

Serena's anger instantly transformed into horror as the ball went flying. In a flash, the yveltal within emerged into the world with an ear-splitting cry. Electric blue eyes instantly caught the girl's own, and in their depths was a promise of retribution - and death.


	3. Chapter 2

_**"Sleep is my lover now, my forgetting, my opiate, my oblivion."** _

-Audrey Niffenegger ( _The Time Traveler's Wife_ )

* * *

It was warm, dark, and comfortably snug, as if he were inside his mother's womb. An eternity or a moment might have passed for all he knew. Time was meaningless to him in this place.

The voice kept its promise. No more nightmares or bogeymen preyed on him. The shadows held no more fear for him, only shelter and safety.

Soft lullabies echoed from the void around him as sweet songs to mend his tattered consciousness. When he stirred from his sleep, soothing whispers would lull him back to rest. The presence of his rescuer never left, enwrapped him tightly yet tenderly in its hold. A deep pulse like a great heart thrummed beneath him. The constant beat of it was his beginning and end, the thread that kept him tethered to existence.

He could have slept there forever, safely ensconced from world outside. Yet this state of sweet, half wakefulness was only temporary.

A nudge at the edge of his awareness.

**Wake, my lost one.**

A stirring. He groaned groggily, stubbornly hanging to those shreds of peace and unconsciousness.

**The land of the living is calling you once more. It must not be kept waiting.**

A whimper escaped him. He did not want to leave. The mere thought made him begin to quake uncontrollably. If he left, would the voice still be there to protect him, or would he be left cold and alone again? If the latter was the case... His shaking worsened.

_Please, don't go away. Don't leave me..._

**Do not fear. I promised that I would walk by your side as you made your way, and I will keep to that promise. Mine will be the light of your path. So long as our fates are intertwined, I will never leave you.**

Something like a breeze stirred around him, an embrace and a push at once. Then there was a sensation of falling as the presence - the voice - released its hold on him. He could not quite shrug off the trepidation for the mysteries that lay ahead. The darkness was all that he had known for so long... Yet, if the voice was beside him, maybe he would be all right. He trusted in its word if nothing else.

**Now, open your eyes.**

The land of the living was indeed calling him back, and when he answered it hurt like a ramming rhyhorn.

* * *

Her breath hitched in her throat when she saw the yveltal materialize above her. The creature was even more awe-inspiring and maddeningly frightening as she remembered. Red and violet sparks fell of it like so much rain. Scarlet light pulsed on its belly and wings in that unmistakable jagged Y-pattern. Even the heavens clouded and darkened to herald the behemoth, or so it seemed to the stunned girl.

As it flew this way and that, Serena could only stare helplessly at the sharp talons of its feet and the razor claws at the end of its tail and wings. Just a twitch of those appendages could kill her, never mind the attacks yveltal could do without so much as _touching_ its prey. Chills ran as cold electrics shocks up and down her spine. Every instinct screamed at her to run, but her feet would not move from where they were glued to the ground.

Her team was in a similar state of shock. Not even loud and bold Caesar, who was the always the first to charge in and take the challenge head on, stirred from where he stood on the riverbank. Her venusaur made low, mewling sounds, as the yveltal wheeled overhead. The immovable Brunhilde bristled furiously. Only Guinevere and Minerva had the presence of mind to remain quiet and take up defensive positions around their trainer and team mates. Their psychic powers cracked in response to the monster's dark aura.

Then the yveltal's dread attention finally turned on them. Its glowing, pupiless gaze met hers. The ice in her spine permeated her chest with spiked shards. Her heart leapt into her throat, but she could not tear away from that soul-piercing stare. _Arceus, oh Arceus..._ was Serena's only coherent thought, a prayer for her life.

* * *

Brightness hit him as he was ejected from his sanctuary.

_/A sun-dappled forest trail, the chitter of fletchlings in the trees and pikachu skittering through the undergrowth.../_

His newborn's cry ripped from him, and he shrilled like a braviary through the air as he instinctively took wing. Why did everything hurt so much? The dry air in his lungs, the sunlight against his squinted eyes, the wind that scraped his scarlet hide, the sky so vibrant and blue that was everything the void had not been - it was too much. Compared with the quiet bleakness of his dark sleep, the world he presently found himself in was a sensory overload. Terror, inexplicable as a child's, bloomed in his chest. He screamed again, shattering the air around him. There had to be some way to let it out, to escape, or he would tear himself apart!

Though he was a nightmare incarnate to those who watched him below, he was scarcely aware of anyone but himself. What they took to be anger and aggression was his unmitigated fear.

_/An incoming typhoon, the vortex ripping houses from their foundations and trees from their roots.../_

Like a branch torn from a tree in a storm, he was lost in the chaos and had no anchor. There was nothing familiar he could take hold of in order to reorient himself. When he could think past his own emotional turmoil, he latched on to the only remotely familiar object about this alien world: a pair of grey eyes, so much like those of the man in his dreams...

* * *

" _Kriii!_ "

Her delphox's warning call broke Serena from her stupor. Only daring to turn her back on the yveltal for a second or two, the girl whipped her head from side to side to find her team. Rather belatedly she realized that she was not the only one in danger from the raging legend. "Guys, come back, _now_!" Never before had she withdrawn her pokémon so quickly. In an instant she called them all back, summoning and stashing them away in the relative safety of the pokéballs.

Now if only she could get yveltal back inside its ball... Serena mentally slapped herself for not thinking to do that sooner. Her common sense had apparently fled with her mood from earlier. Reaching for the master ball at her belt-

New dread shot through her when her hand met with nothing. Where was it? Searching the ground around her frantically, there was no sign it.

"Oh no..." she gasped. There, a hundred yards off, was the empty purple-and-white sphere teetering precariously on the edge of the cliff. One more little push would easily send it into the rapids below.

Serena dashed for the bank, all her focus on the pokéball that was her lifeline. If she lost it or failed to put the yveltal back inside in time, the girl was well and truly done for. _I swear to Arceus_ , she promised inwardly. _If I somehow get out of this alive, I'm handing that monster straight over to the professor, responsibilities as a trainer be damned!_

She felt rather than saw the great red bird give pursuit. The atmosphere crackled with eldritch energy, raising the hairs on the back of her neck as she ran. Another screech behind her, and she chanced a glance over her shoulder. The yveltal was dangerously close behind and quickly closing the gap between them.

Then, quite suddenly, it hung back. Serena nearly sobbed out loud in relief. Maybe it decided she was not worth chasing after all, or maybe it had found another poor soul to go after. Either way, the master ball was just a little further off, and if she was quick enough she could grab it and summon the yveltal while the beast's back was returned.

Her hopes were thoroughly dashed, however, by a high-pitched whine that echoed across Route 18. The closest sound that Serena could liken it to was the charge of Coatl's Solar Beam before he fired it... Instinct had her body moving before she consciously recognized the oncoming it.

Blood curdling screams melded with the _skreee!_ of the Oblivion Wing attack as the bolt of red energy hit home.

* * *

When his one source of sanity hightailed in the opposite direction, he naturally followed after. "Come back, don't run away!" - that was what he tried to say, but the words came out as nothing more than a keening wail. Why did she run? The short-locked girl cruelly turned and fled from him, denying him the soothing balm of those eyes.

_/"Lyssy, don't walk away from this! There is still a chance. There is time to stop all of this from happening. We can still be happy - together..."/_

Anger and hurt welled up violently in his belly and made him stop short. They churned liked magma in the heart of a volcano, pressurized and unable to be contained by such narrow confines. With no other place to go and no other route to take, his fury traveled up and out.

His horror was mirrored on her face as the crimson light overcame her fleeing form.

* * *

Falling to her knees and ducking her head under her arms, she braced herself. A pokémon could barely withstand that life-draining blow. She did not count on a mere human like herself surviving the same. Though her life was not flashing before her eyes, Serena truly expected to die there on the riverside.

_I'm sorry, everyone_ , she thought in the half second before she was engulfed in the light. _Looks like I won't be coming back after all._

Regret tainted her last moments. There were so much that was left unfinished and undone.

She would never win her last gym badge, would never compete in the Kalos League. There would be no more battles with Calem or pokédex comparing with Trevor. No more surprise visits home to her mother or staying up late into the night talking about everything and nothing. Never would she have the chance to patch things up with Tierno and see him smile again.

Serena's only silver lining was the possibility that her team would come out alive and unscathed. She also hoped that her friends and loved ones would not think too badly of her when she never returned.

* * *

Minerva prided herself on being an imperturbable and rational creature, an exemplary specimen of her kind.

There was a reason that she was the unofficial leader of Serena's team. She was a delphox; grace, cleverness, and power were part of the package. When even the unflappable Brunhilde lost her head in the heat of battle, Minerva remained in control of her faculties and saw them all through to victory. Like the flame of on her branch she could shrink down to an ember or erupt into a firestorm. She could be untamed and dangerous, but never out of control.

Except, of course, when her beloved trainer was threatened.

She erupted from the confines of her pokéball with a loud and furious "KRIII!" Throwing up a Light Screen, the foxy creature threw herself between Serena and the beam of the Oblivion Wing. Minerva bared her fangs, both in anger and for the sheer effort of maintaining the shield against the onslaught. The branch she held close to her chest burned like a sun in its own right. Psychic energy ruffled the thick fur of her laid back ears. Smoke and sparks fired from where the Light Screen was blocking the attack, and everything became dark for several moments.

"M-min?" Serena coughed as the smoke cleared. The delphox turned to look at the girl, her expression losing some of its fierceness when she saw that her trainer was well and none the worse for wear. Minerva's attention was soon diverted elsewhere, though, by the yveltal still wheeling overhead.

* * *

He was as relieved as the girl surely was by the delphox's fortunate appearance. To have destroyed her - his holding place, as it were, in the waking world - would have been unforgivable sin unto himself. Crisis averted for the moment, he made to get closer to the pair. Though his sudden rage from a few moments before had passed, the need to get the girl was still incredibly strong. He was pulled in an iron nail is to a magnet, knowing that the key to calming the storm within lay with her.

:If you value your life, cur, you will come no closer to me or my mistress!:

When the voice echoed through his mind, he thought for a moment that it was _the_ voice. Yet the words presently invading his mind were not an all-consuming presence, and this voice was distinctly feminine and harsh, not masculine. He looked about confusedly for the source. Perhaps this voice was like the one in his mind and had no physical body that contained it. He shrieked again.

:And cease that infernal screeching. Either express yourself in a better way or be silent altogether.:

The amber eyes of the delphox caught his own, burning with warning and, if he was not mistaken, _annoyance_. Was she the speaking to him, then? Something about the vulpine creature rubbed him the wrong way in an instant. Still, he acquiesced to her command, knowing that there would be no getting around the vixen if he wanted to get to the girl. He saw the fur along her shoulders and spine settle somewhat when he went quiet.

:Now, if you are quite done throwing a tantrum, you may land, provided that you maintain distance from Mistress Serena.: He obediently alighted on an outcropping. _Serena..._ So that was the name behind those gray eyes. It struck a chord of familiarity deep inside, but for the life of him he could not place why. His claws gouged furrows in the ground as he pondered on the mystery, the white fur around his neck ruffling in the breeze.

The delphox spoke again. :If you have the faculties to do so, will you kindly explain why you attacked her, your own trainer? I understand that you are a power in your own right. Yet the same contract binds the both of us to her until the day she chooses to release us from it. Never is it permissible to bring her intentional harm: Silence stretched on between them, and the delphox growled quietly. :Are you incapable of answering, or is your impudence so great that you think it beneath you to give a reply?:

:L... lost...: The single word scraped across the empty space between their minds. It took a sincere effort to form, and he surprised himself in doing so. To send the audible thought through the invisible link between himself and the delphox was instinctual. Yet in the same instance it was an incredibly strange and disconcerting sensation. A dull pain throbbed between his eyes. He winced visibly, a broken squawk escaping from his beakish mouth.

:Lost... I... am... lost.:


End file.
